Homemade oat-based drink products – easy, economic, and delicious way to benefit oat’s health effects | Julkaisut @SeAMK
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Homemade oat-based drink products – easy, economic, and delicious way to benefit oat’s health effects
Homemade oat-based drink products – easy, economic, and delicious way to benefit oat’s health effects

Homemade oat-based drink products – easy, economic, and delicious way to benefit oat’s health effects

kategoria: Yleinen
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According to market studies, the consumption of oat-based products is growing strongly. Especially non-dairy, oat-based drinks and smoothies are popular with consumers. This growing consumer trend has positive effects on both consumers’ health and well-being. Furthermore, it also affects the green transition and the climate changes (Global Trade, 2021).

Formation and benefits of beta-glucan

The beta-glucan in oats improves the gel formation in aqueous solution. The starch together with beta-glucan increase the viscosity of the solution making the product structure gel-like. An increase of beta-glucan at an appropriate temperature (25-35oC) enhance the gelation, but at higher temperatures the gelation is reduced (BeMiller, 2018).

The beta-glucan brings a structure to the oat-based products; a viscosity that gives both improved texture and a rich mouthfeel to the products. The health benefits of beta-glucan have been recognized for a few decades. Beta-glucan lowers blood cholesterol, stabilizes blood sugar level, and reduces the risk of coronary heart disease. Both the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA, 2010) and the US Food and Drunk Food Agency (FDA, 1997) have granted health marketing authorizations for oat products, when the products contain enough beta-glucan. Products containing beta-glucan should remain as stable as possible to maintain the rheological properties, i.e., ability to form gel, until products are enjoyed.

However, the structure of beta-glucan is not permanent. Degradation of the structure occurs both during processing and storage. Degradation can be either enzymatic e.g., caused by the beta-glucose enzyme or non-enzymatic, e.g., acid hydrolysis (Kivelä et al., 2009). Also heating (to 120°C) and high-pressure processing (HPP processing, 300-1000 bar) degrades beta-glucan, significantly reducing the product viscosity (Kivelä, 2011).

In Finland, many oat-based products, like drinks and smoothies, are available on the market. These products are usually expensive. Many drinkable oat-based products can easily be made to an affordable price at home, e.g., using a smoothie-recipe (Table 1) developed and pre-tested at SeAMK, in Frami Food Lab. The recipe was developed for EQVegan Erasmus+ project (621581-EPP-1-2020-1-PT-EPPKA2-SSA) in spring 2022.

Table 1. Recipe for an oat-lingonberry-smoothie. You can modify the recipe by using different berries and juices. Please, change the sugar amount depending on the berries or juice used. Test and find your favorite taste!

Terhi Junkkari
Principal lecturer
SeAMK

Juuso Kumpulainen
Laboratory engineer
SeAMK

Gun Wirtanen
Senior advisor
SeAMK

References

BeMiller, J. (2018). Carbohydrate chemistry for food scientists. Woodhead Publishing and AACC International Press. 3 rd. edition. EFSA. (2010). Panel on Dietetic Products, Nutrition and Allergies (NDA). Scientific Opinion on the substantiation of health claims related to beta-glucans and maintenance of normal blood cholesterol concentrations (ID 754, 755, 757, 801, 1465, 2934) and maintenance or achievement of a normal body weight (ID 820, 823) pursuant to Article 13(1) of Regulation (EC) No 1924/2006 on request from the European Commission. EFSA Journal 7, 1254–1272. www.efsa.europa.eu/efsajournal.htm

FDA, Food and Drug Administration. (1997). Food labelling: health claims; oats and coronary heart disease. Federal register, rules, and regulations, 62 (15), 3584-3601. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-1997-01-23/pdf/97-1598.pdf

Global Trade. (2021) Accelerated demand for healthy food emerges as a new driver for the global oats market. https://www.globaltrademag.com/accelerated-demand-for-healthy-food-emerges-as-a-new-driver-for-the-global-oats-market/

Kivelä, R., Nyström, L., Salovaara, H., Sontag-Strohm, T. (2009). Role of oxidative cleavage and acid hydrolysis of oat beta-glucan in modelled beverage conditions. Journal of Cereal Science, 50, 190-197.

Kivelä, R. (2011). Non-enzymatic Degradation of (1→3)(1→4)-β-D-glucan in Aqueous Processing of Oats. [Dissertation, University of Helsinki]. Elintarvike- ja ympäristötieteiden laitos. https://helda.helsinki.fi/handle/10138/27303